They're closing parish churches in St. Louis, but I'm sure you are right that there are places where it is healthier. But you bypass the point about the couple hundred mill in settlements.
But I wish we wouldn't argue. Seriously. I only want the best for the Mother Church and I want the freaks, weirdo's and deviants excommunicated and gone, just like I want the Episcopal church to be cleansed.
Unfortunately, I'm not so sure there is a mechanism to cleanse the Episcopal church so I may ride the schism wave back to Rome in the end, or hop over to a Roman parish and take Catechism class and be Received. Maybe I'd better not wait too long. Hmmmm.
I wasn't trying to argue with you per se. It was that from my vantage point, I've seen great improvements in the Catholic Church over the last couple of decades. I think JPII stopped the bleeding.
But you are absolutely correct about the whole "priests gone wild" crap and its aftermath. Hopefully Benedict will continue to clean house!
The Episcopal Church cannot be cleansed. Why? It is argumentative whether Darwin or the German royals (including those of the present generation) were more damaging to the Church of England (and thus to Episcopalians). Darwin assured the elitists, albeit obliquely, that rampant promiscuity was OK; the final nail in the coffin was when the German royals, through their own actions and neglect of the Church, instructed the flock that it was OK not to believe.
It can be noted that, except for Catholics, all those bodies gaining members between 1990 and 2000 generally are considered “Conservative Protestants,” while most of those showing a decrease in number of adherents generally are considered “Moderate” or “Liberal” Protestants.
(You can order one from Our Lady of Walsingham (office@walsingham-church.org) in Houston or the GIFT NOOK at Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio.)